Oddcast episode
Yousef Casewit Makes the Crossing
We let the tape roll and further explore the reaches of Ibn Barrajān's thought-world. Things get metaphysical, then political, and then metaphysico-political.
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Oddcast episode
Crossing Over to the Unseen: Yousef Casewit on Ibn Barrajān
We are joined by Yousef Casewit to discuss one of the lesser-known spiritual masters of the Andalusian tradition, Ibn Barrajān. We explore his life, times, and writings, his extraordinary spiritual practice of ‘crossing over’ into the unseen, and his disquietingly-accurate prediction of the Muslim reconquest of Jerusalem.
Roots of Magic episode
Daniel Schwemer on the Bit Meseri Ritual
We speak with Daniel Schwemer about an intensive ritual practice for driving out demonic forces and/or hostile magic. Bit Meseri, the ‘House of Enclosure’, took the ashipu (and forty-nine protective apkaluspirits) four days, at the end of which period the patient was good to go. We talk ritual, theology, and divine handbags.
Podcast episode
Episode 216: Gerasimos Merianos on East Roman Alchemy in Late Antiquity and Beyond, Part II
We delve further into the laboratories, workshops, and even state coffers of East Rome with Gerasimos Merianos. East Roman alchemy becomes mathematised. The parameters of alchemical secrecy change. We encounter our first alchemical con-men. And Michæl Psellos showcases his ability to see which way the wind is blowing, this time in the realm of high-stakes alchemical politics.
Podcast episode
Episode 215: Gerasimos Merianos on East Roman Alchemy in Late Antiquity and Beyond, Part I
In Part I of a two-parter we explore the contours of East Roman alchemy from the seventh century onward. Gerasimos Merianos is our guide to the many and varied authors writing in the alchemical genre aside from (but including) the great Stephanos. The roots of the western alchemical tradition lie in the east.
Podcast episode
Episode 214: The Horoscope of Islām and The Alchemical Stone: Maria Papathanassiou on Stephanos of Alexandria, Part II
In Part II we explore two of Stephanos' works: the astrological piece entitled Apotelesmatikē pragmateia, with its katarchic ‘Horoscope of Islam’, and his influential, vexing, and beautiful alchemical work, On the Great and Holy Art of Gold-Making.
Podcast episode
Episode 213: Philosophy and Occult Sciences at Constantinople: Maria Papathanassiou on Stephanos of Alexandria, Part I
We speak with Maria Papathanassiou about Stephanos of Alexandria: the last known Platonist/Aristotelean philosopher trained at Alexandria, a politically-connected courtier at Herakleios' Constantinople, a Christian, an astrologer, an alchemist, and more.
Blog post
Some New Resources for 2026
We list a few interesting new(ish) online resources which have crossed our desk here at SHWEP H.Q. recently.
Roots of Magic episode
Martin Stadler on Magic and Religion at the Ancient Egyptian Temple of Edfu
We speak with Martin Stadler on his work deciphering and interpreting the extraordinary temple-complex at Edfu in Egypt. We discuss myth, ritual, the priestly temple-hierarchy, and magical ritual embodied in physical architecture.
Blog post
Esoteric Island Discs: Carl Abrahamsson
Our castaway is Carl Abrahamsson, a writer, publisher, magico-anthropologist, filmmaker, and photographer whose decades of exploration in the occultural sphere have helped shape the modern magickal landscape. The esoteric island goes back to the source.
Blog post
The Eighth Annual Report of the SHWEP
We reflect on a year spent in the seventh century and in 2025. Apocalyptic themes seem to have dominated both time-frames. Here's to a sublime and less exciting 2026!
Roots of Magic episode
Beatrice Baragli on the Bīt Rimki Ritual Cycle
We dive back into the world of Akkadian purification magic with Beatrice Baragli, who is working on an edition of the ritual sequence known as Bīt Rimki (`The Bathhouse'). Politics used to be very magical.
Podcast episode
Members only: Jonathan Greig on the Question of Universal Salvation in Maximus
We let the tape run and explore the possibility that Maximus had an esoteric doctrine of universal salvation, centring the conversation on two passages from the Ambigua, which seemingly contradict one-another. Things remain, appropriately, ambiguous, and universalist vs. anti-universalist readings of Maximus will continue to flourish. Jonathan Greig delineates what is at stake.
Podcast episode
Episode 212: Esoteric Orthodoxy in East Rome: Jonathan Greig on Maximus the Confessor
We head back to Constantionple with Jonathan Greig at the controls, to discuss the quintessentially Orthodox mystic, Maximus the Confessor. Late-Platonist apophasis meets hard-core ascesis, and Maximus follows the theology where it wants to go, sometimes to his own cost.
Oddcast episode
Jason Ānanda Josephson-Storm on James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, and Western Esotericism
Jason Josephson-Storm returns to the SHWEP to discuss one of the most influential thinkers on modern western esoteric movements – Sir James George Frazer, author of The Golden Bough – and where, precisely, J.G.F. might fit within western esotericism itself.
Roots of Magic episode
Gideon Bohak on the Pishra de-Rabbi Ḥanina Ben Dosa
We discuss a fascinating text of all-purpose protective and apotropaic magic with a history spanning millennia with the inimitable Gideon Bohak. Attributed to a first-century rabbi, the Pishra may have its roots in late-antique Babylonia, but it was still being copied into the twentieth century, and, who knows? perhaps today.
Podcast episode
Episode 211: Introducing the Apocalypse of the Pseudo-Methodios, with Christopher Bonura
Christopher Bonura introduces us to the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodios, a seventh-century Syriac prophetic universal history. Come for the Arab conquests reflected in Christian revelation, stay for the apocalyptic Roman emperor.
Oddcast episode
Daniel Harms on the People and Books Behind Early-Modern Fairy-Magic
Having laid out fairy-magic as a genre, and discussing some of its characteristics, we are delighted to speak with Daniel Harms about the people and social circumstances behind the texts and practices of fairy-magic.
Podcast episode
Episode 210: Jewish Apocalypse in the Seventh Century: Martha Himmelfarb on the Sefer Zerubbabel
In this interview we explore a crucial document of seventh-century Judaism: the Sefer Zerubbabel, an apocalyptic ‘future history’ allegedly written in the past. The Temple will descend, the evil Armilus (son of Satan and a statue) will wreak havok, and two messiahs will arise to redeem Israel.
Podcast episode
Episode 209: Touraj Daryaee on Zoroastrianism in the Seventh Century and Beyond
With the Arab conquest of Sasanian Persia, a new religion enters the west. Once the great religious Other to the Græco-Roman world, the Zoroastrians are now part of the story of western esotericism. We explore their extraordinary religion with Touraj Daryaee.
